Oshkosh Correctional Institution Inmate Search

Oshkosh Correctional Institution Overview

Oshkosh Correctional Institution is operated by the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, Division of Adult Institutions. It is not operated by the Winnebago County Sheriff's Office and it is not the Winnebago County Jail. The DOC describes OSCI as an adult male medium-security institution. The facility sits north of Oshkosh at 1730 W. Snell Road, with a mailing address of PO Box 3530, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3530. The captured DOC facility page named Brian Cahak as warden.

The institution has a long local history tied to state correctional land in Winnebago County. DOC says OSCI was first proposed in the 1977 Flad Report, construction began in fall 1984, and the prison was activated in September 1986. It was built on the site of the DOC Winnebago Correctional Farm. The former Winnebago State Prison Farm was razed and moved to Waupun to make room for later institutional expansion.

That history matters for inmate lookup because the Oshkosh campus is part of a dense correctional area. A searcher may see the county jail, Oshkosh Correctional Institution, Winnebago Correctional Center, Drug Abuse Correctional Center, Wisconsin Resource Center, and other Winnebago-area results in the same search session. The address, facility name, and DOC number should be checked carefully before assuming that a person is in county custody.

Oshkosh Correctional Institution Capacity and Population

The strongest population source in the captured research is the OSCI 2025 annual report. That report lists the institution's operating capacity as 1,494 and its current population as 2,099. It also gives an average daily population range of 2,070 to 2,100. Those figures are institution-level DOC figures, not Winnebago County jail counts.

The same annual report describes OSCI as the largest institution in Wisconsin and gives a fuller operational picture: 317.45 total site acres, 96 interior acres, a 1.8-mile perimeter road, 343 uniformed FTE employees, 199 non-uniformed FTE employees, and an inmate-to-staff ratio of 3.87. The report describes 12 living centers supported by multi-disciplinary teams that include security, social work, treatment, education, psychology, health services, and office operations staff.

How to Look Up an Inmate at Oshkosh Correctional Institution

Use the Wisconsin DOC Offender Locator for Oshkosh Correctional Institution. Do not rely on the Winnebago County Jail current inmate list for a person who is sentenced to state prison, because DOC's general information explains that state DOC facilities and city or county jails are administered separately. A person may disappear from the local jail list after transfer into DOC intake or a state prison placement.

1. Open the Wisconsin DOC Offender Locator, also described by DOC as the Person in Our Care or Client Search.
2. Search with the DOC number if known, or use the person's legal first and last name. Birth year or date of birth can help narrow common names when the interface offers that field.
3. Review the returned profile for the current DOC facility, custody or supervision status, and identifying information.
4. Confirm that the facility is Oshkosh Correctional Institution before using OSCI visiting, mail, or money procedures.

If the DOC locator does not find the person, consider the custody stage. The individual may still be in Winnebago County Jail, another county jail, federal custody, or not in public custody. For a local arrest that has not produced a prison transfer, the county's PDF list and court records may be more relevant than DOC's statewide locator.

Oshkosh Correctional Institution Address and Contact

Facility contact should be used for institutional questions such as visiting procedures, facility handbooks, and mail format. It should not be used as a substitute for the DOC locator when the question is whether a person is in state custody. The captured OSCI facility page did not show a direct facility phone number in the research lines, so the contact card lists the official facility address and the DOC main contact number documented in the Facility Map.

Visiting Someone at Oshkosh Correctional Institution

OSCI visiting is prison-style visiting, not county jail visiting. The captured OSCI visiting guideline says in-person general-population visits use SignUpGenius and video visits use IC Solutions. Visits are three hours. The visiting week runs Sunday through Thursday, with three visits per week allowed, one visit per day, and one visit on a weekend or attached holiday. Visitors should expect approval, identification, dress, search, and parking rules under DOC visiting procedures.

The visitor parking area is marked by signs and high-visibility green lines, and the visiting guideline says the parking lot may be searched. Confirm the current visiting document before travel because prison schedules can change for security, staffing, holidays, or institution operations.

Mail, Phone, and Money at Oshkosh Correctional Institution

DOC money and mail rules are statewide, but addresses vary by facility and mail type. The research says DOC funds are currently received through Access Corrections Secure Deposit and CashPayToday, and DOC warns not to send funds directly to the correctional facility. For letters and cards at OSCI, the captured research identifies TextBehind, PO Box 189, Phoenix, MD 21131. Use the person's full name and DOC number so mail is routed to the right person in DOC care.

State Prison Intake and Transfers to OSCI

Oshkosh Correctional Institution does not book new street arrests the way the county jail does. A person normally reaches OSCI after a criminal case has moved through court, sentence and DOC intake or transfer decisions. The county jail roster is therefore a poor long-term record for someone who has entered DOC custody. The DOC locator, the sentencing case in Wisconsin Circuit Court Access, and the person's DOC number are the better tools.

This distinction is important in Winnebago County because the county jail publishes its own current inmate PDF and 24-hour media blotter. Those county PDFs use local jail fields such as InmateID, sex, judicial status and initial booking. A DOC prison profile uses state correctional identifiers and may show facility and custody information that the county jail PDFs never contain.

Programs and Institutional Operations

The OSCI annual report describes a large multi-disciplinary institution rather than a single-purpose correctional center. Departments named in the captured research include the Inmate Complaint Review System, Recreation and Chaplain Services, Education Department and Library, Psychological Services, Health Services Unit, Program Review, Social Services, Program Services, and Records Department. The annual report also identifies Anger Control Training in the captured lines.

Those program and department references help explain why a person may have contact points beyond a housing unit. Family members, attorneys, and service providers may be dealing with education, social services, records, health services, program review, or visiting operations depending on the issue. For public lookup, however, the DOC locator remains the first step. Program information does not replace the need to verify the person's current institution.